Today was lesson 19 of 19 - the last
demonstration and practical of the Superior term. Time for a little more fun, in this case with
sushi and vegetable carving.
Sushi? At Le Cordon Bleu? Indeed! We are fortunate to have among the Chefs at
LCB a master of sushi, so why not, eh? For our purposes today, I’m calling him
Chef 6. Chef 6 is generally known at the
school as the master of the production kitchen.
While much of his work involves making sure the school is properly
stocked for our classes and managing the folks making the daily staff meals, he
steps out of that job to teach classes in sushi, vegetable carving, ice
carving, and on more than a few occasions to create amazing sculptures for
special events.
Just last week I was messing around in the
production kitchen with one of the staff trying to iron out the details for my
Black Box exam, and I had the privilege of watching him prepare some sculptures
for the school open house that weekend, part of the Ottawa “Doors Open”
event.
“So Chef, after the class next week I’ll be
able to carve just like you?”
<crickets chirping>
“Of course.”
Yeah…. Right.
When I spent some time in Thailand a few
years ago I took a short class in fruit and vegetable carving. It was a one-on-one thing and, I must admit,
I was kind of all thumbs at it, even with lots of help. But it’s a beautiful art, one that I wish I
had more time to study, so I’ve been looking forward to his class all term. I even went to the expense of picking up a
carving tools kit last weekend and proceeded to stab myself several times
trying to practice at home. Some
interesting new wounds, but no greater insight.
So bright and early this morning our class
enjoyed a demonstration of rolling maki-sushi and carving. Chef 6 is clearly a master and makes it look
easy. I mean, this is what he came up
with in about three hours. Nice lunch,
eh?
I took notes and made little diagrams to
help me in the afternoon practical, but I have to admit I gave up when it came
to the turnip swan. Clearly a hands-on
only thing… pointless to try to describe it.
The practical class itself was a lot of
fun. No pressure, and lots of time to
make mistakes. My partner and I actually
came up with a pretty decent little sculpture in a little over two hours. I think a little of my previous knowledge came
in a bit handy, and Chef 6’s techniques were a LOT easier than what I had learned before. And I only punctured my thumb once!
But now that this class is over, we have
just one more workshop, then a few days to practice and study for our final
exam. I submitted my recipes last week
right before the deadline, and as of now have tested most of the components/techniques
at least once. I’ll certainly be making
them several times more, and will do at least one “stopwatch” practice before
the exam next Tuesday afternoon.
And, true to my usual form, the pre-exam
stress is kicking in, only much earlier this time. The crazy dreams have started too – last
night a weird, disjointed thing about one of the Chefs teaching me to ski on an
icy hill (I do know how to ski, but in the dream it seems I had forgotten) and
somehow ending up with a basket on exam day that contained none of my requested
ingredients. But you know what was in
the basket in my dream? Bubblegum. I’m going to take that as a good omen!
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